Announcing My 2010 Digital WakeUp Call Success Collection

Good Morning Everybody,

Today I’m announcing my Digital WakeUp Call Success Collection and I’m thrilled!  Why? Because nobody has ever offered so much "honest to goodness value" in one package!

I have been working with my video team, designers, and a special group of vendors for the last four months to bring this whole project together. 

The result is about the most jam-packed collection of training resources, exciting design and workflow software, and success tools ever assembled in one package!

Just Check out everything that's included! It's amazing!

Yes, all this for only $89.95 – a $600 value!

Hey, I don’t hardly believe it either! Hold on to your seats and Just look at what I’ve included thanks to the generosity of all involved.

1. First off, we've taken my "rapid fire" 4 1/2 hour Digital WakeUp Call presentation, edited it together into a very jazzy, fast paced presentation that captures all the fun we experienced in the 60 cities we visited. Then we added nearly 5 more hours of content to the video collection. I’ll tell you, it ROCKS! All the information and the fun that we had during the tour is captured vividly in this 5 DVD (9 hour) collection.

The additional 5 hours of content includes lots of Lighting, Lightroom,  Photoshop, Marketing, and Camera technique! Now the Digital WakeUp Call presentation in over a full day seminar on off-camera and on-camera flash techniques, camera tips, digital project design solutions, and success strategies for your growing photography business.

*All videos are available in both iPhone/iTouch, and iPad formats, too.  Details right here.

2. We are also including my 4 hour Bonus DVD which includes tutorials on Lightroom, Camera Raw, Photoshop, and more from the NAPP Team - Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, and Corey Barker.  The DVD also incorporates solid marketing lessons that can add substantially to your bottom line. 

I’ve also included several tutorials on lighting, photography, Lightroom, and Photoshop. You’ll find iformation on calibrating your monitor, fine tuning your images with NIK products, and more.

3.  We’ve also included a 1 year membership to WPPI – and that includes a 12 month subscription to Rangefinder Magazine, too!  WPPI hosts the largest wedding and portrait convention in the USA – a really exciting event!  Check out all the WPPI member benefits right here.

4. We are also including Graphic Authority’s Our Studio Collection Volume #3 – a $99.95 value.  They want to give you an opportunity to try out the hugely successful line of design products and want you to see how easy they are to incorporate into your wedding/portrait/high school senior projects.  You can get information on all their exciting products right here.

5. Marathon Press, the photographer’s marketing partner, is including a $50 Gift Card towards selected marketing products designed exclusively for photographers.  Check out everything they have to offer right here.

6.  1 MONTH FREE Kelby Training! The best place to go for on-line training about photography, lighting, Lightroom, Photoshop, and so much more. This one month of training is priced at $24.95 but with the DWUC Success Collection you can start you free training right away! Here is the Kelby Training link for all their classes.

7.  My good friends at American Color Imaging Labs, ACI, one of the best digital photography labs in the business, are giving you a FREE $50 Gift Card that you can use immediately on your next order. That’s like having $50 cash in your back pocket for your next lab order! Check out all their services right here.

8.  Animoto is including a certificate offering ONE FREE MONTH of Animoto for Photography - $33.00 value. The Animoto for Photography side of Animoto is truly the photographer’s friend with so much more to offer you in building your studio’s success.  Animoto for Photography gives you a much wider range of music to select from (you can also use your Triple Scoop selections) for your projects. There is NO charge for downloads of hi-res DVD’s – a great product  to offer your clients. You can use Animoto for Photography to create slideshows that include video for your website, blog, and Facebook page – Way Cool!  Check out Animoto for Photography right here.

9. We are also including a $25 and $50 Gift Certificates for our Digital Resource Center. That means you will save about 20% on your next order.  The Digital Resource Center is the best collection of my digital photography and lighting training tools and production efficient design software available to photographers today. Here is the Digital Resource Center link.

10. More Photos, my personal choice for image hosting for my clients’ events, is offering special pricing on their monthly hosting services and even tossing in FREE set up with their enclosed offer.  All that amounts to a $200 savings for you to get started. Check them out right here.

11. My good buddies at Triple Scoop Music are offering special pricing that can save you over $200 on you next music purchase!  My gosh, they have nearly 7,000 musical selections to choose from. You can’t go wrong! Take a listen right here.

12. NIK Software has included a certificate giving you a full 15% discount on any of their products.  That can save you up to $90. I love their products as do so many other working pros. NIK products just make things so much easier to do in Lightroom and Photoshop! Here is the link to all their great products.

And like Ron Popeil use to say, “Wait, there’s more!” Yes, there is still more.  We still have a number of my 38 page Digital WakeUp Call Tour Handbooks on hand which we will include with every purchase until they run out.

You can order everything here for only $89.95 – no kidding, only $89.95!

Hey everybody, thanks for taking the time to check out my new 2010 Success Collection. To be honest with you folks, it’s these kinds of offers and your support that keep DigitalProTalk.com one of the best free and content rich photography blogs available!

Thanks for giving the DWUC Success Collection a peek today.

I’ll see everyone tomorrow for another Business day Thursday.

-David

"Standing Tall"

"Standing Tall"
©David A. Ziser

I made this image a few weeks ago at my Digital Master Class.  The bride was feeling faint and had to take a break so I decided to capture a few quick images of the groom.  Most wedding photographers always shoot towards the front of the church, but if you turn around, you just may see something spectacular. Now, I have to admit, if you are shooting at the Basilica of the Assumption Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky, every direction is spectacular;~)  Anyway, I love the view towards the back of this church - the magnificent stained glass window, the pipe organ, the beautiful architecture everywhere made for a great background for this shot. Compositionally, the question I kept raising in my own mind was whether I wanted to crop out the stained glass window or not.  If I left it in the scene, it sure made the groom look small. But, cropping it out substantially reduced the dramatic "feel" of the shot.  Use your hand to cover the stained glass and see what you think. I shot it both ways and decided I preferred the composition with the beautiful window in the final composition.  I also like how the arches at the top close off and frame the top of the scene. The subject was illuminated camera right with my Quantum T5d shooting through my Zumbrella.  You may be surprised when you read the camera specs below and be inclined to say,  "Ziser used THAT lens and at THAT ISO? That's not "L-Glass" and how'd he handle that high ISO?"  My quick answer - I have a beautiful 24x36 inch print of this image and it looks great.  The solution to the high noise is Lightroom 3 Beta 2. All I can say is WOW!  Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 20mm, F5.6 @ 1/40 second (handheld), ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

Technique Tuesday: "Cabo Smiles" - Before and After; New Video Update

Good Morning Everybody,

I know, I had the incorrect time posted on yesterday’s Quick Hit Monday for Vincent Versace’s upcoming webcast on B&W conversions [link].  Needless to say, I didn’t post all the comments from those who pointed out the error of my ways. Yes, I was drinking out of the wrong side of the coffee cup way too early in the morning trying to get the post up before I needed to head out.

The correct time for Vinnie’s webcast as shown corrected on yesterday's post is Thursday, May 13, 2010 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT;  12 p.m. CDT, and 1:00 p.m. EDT. Sorry for the inconvenience.

And speaking of Quick Hit Monday, I promised a few more items today, but I plan to roll them into Thursday’s Business Day Thursday post as they are more apropos to business.

I’ll Be At B&H For A Free Program May 23, 2010

Hey gang, want to catch a FREE 3 hour program I’m presenting at B&H on Sunday May 23, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m? You can register right here. They tell me it is a full house but they have opened up a few more seats for the program but they go really fast – hope to see you in NYC on May 23.

Video Update: Shooting A Live Wedding

Finally, finally, finally - I finished editing my 920 images for my upcoming Kelby Training video.  Whew!  It wasn't just the "edit" but the "tweak" of each of the images that took a little time.  It was like prepping about 4 weddings by the time I finished up about 8:30 p.m. last night.  But, they are uploaded – I’ll let you know when the video goes "live."

You know, one thing I'm excited about with this upcoming video is the fact that is not one of the bigger events I’ve photographed in Cincinnati.  It's a regular wedding most any photographer would shoot on any weekend.  The idea for the project came together when I was asked to photograph my cousin's daughter's wedding. 

I thought, "What a great opportunity to show how I shoot a real "live" wedding.  I asked my cousin and her husband what I had in mind and they were just fine to include the Kelby video team with me.  I contacted Kelby Training, they loved the idea, flew the video team up from Florida, and we were good to go.

The wedding is a nice wedding at a nice church, and at a nice reception venue.  The couple are a wholesome all American couple with an all American wedding party.  The day included shooting at a few locations special to the bride and groom.  We captured some great images at a beautiful church, and we even had a nice sunset thrown in at the end of the day.  As a matter of fact I blogged two of the wedding images right here "Evening Fantasy" [link] and "All You Need Is Love" [link].

Anyway, like I said, it's a regular wedding from start to finish that I hope speaks to each and every one of you wedding photographers reading this blog.  It gives the perfect view of how I shoot a weeding.  I can't wait for you to see it.

Hey gang, time to get on with Technique Tuesday.  Here we go...

"Cabo Smiles" - Before And After

The idea for today's post came together because of a few comments and emails I received on last week's post, "Cabo Smiles" [link].  While we were in Cabo a few weeks ago, LaDawn asked me to photograph her three adult children.  I gladly obliged.  The challenge was to do it with just the minimal gear I brought with me.

The gear included my trusty "walk around" lens - my 18-200mm IS lens, my 10-22mm wide angle, and my brand new 100mm IS F2.8 macro lens.  For lighting I only brought my Canon 580 EXII flash.  I figured I'd be shooting it remotely so I also packed along my Quantum FreeWire radio system. 

Anyway, to make a long story short I, and most importantly LaDawn, felt I captured some terrific images.  And, as it turns out, it was with a minimum amount of lighting, a great lens choice, and just a little post processing in Lightroom.  The finished result, I promise you, will make a beautiful canvas wrapped portrait for the wall.

Hit the PLAY button below and let me tell you the rest of the story.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  LaDawn and I have our quarterly meeting with my accountant shortly.  I hope it's good news after all the market gyrations these last few days;~)

Have a great rest of the day and I'll see you tomorrow for a very special announcement about a wonderful and exciting educational opportunity!

Adios Everybody,  -David

"Garden Party"

"Garden Party"
©David A. Ziser

Occasionally when shooting a wedding the church will have a nearby garden that fits the bill for some great photographs.  That was the case here. I wanted to get just a casual shot of the groom.  Sometimes asking him to take off the jacket and just hold it over his shoulder works just fine.  Leaning him on the black wrought iron gate added to the masculine feel I wanted to convey in this image too. Now the challenge was to separate him from the background which was easily done with a long lens and wider aperture. I also wanted to kick a little light into him to give me my flattering loop lighting pattern on his face. Fortunately the area I chose for the portrait was in full shadow which let me use a wider aperture with a shutter speed that worked for my off camera flash.  Notice too, how I composed the shot with the groom in the middle flanked by the gate to his right and the wall to his left. The tree in the background finishes the framing across the top of the image. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 70mm, F 5.6 @ 1/250 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Quick Hit Monday: Magic B&W; Special Deals: Great Surfs; and A Giggle For The Day

Good Morning Everybody,
I hope everybody enjoyed the weekend. We are off and running around here again today - final tweaks on a few projects, and - I'm off to a meeting in Lexington, KY in just a few minutes.  We've got our KPPA (KY Prof Photog Assoc) Summer School coming up and are putting the finishing touches on the program.  I’ll tell you, it looks like a great two days with some exciting, informative programs – check it out right here.

As soon as things are firmed up, I'll give you an update. I hope everyone nearby will try to stop on by, learn a new tip or two and be inspired by the terrific line-up of presentations. 
Since I'm on the road early this morning, let's get right to Quick Hit Monday.  Here we go.

Making Black & White Images That Surpass Silver Gelatin Images
Hey gang, I just got a note from Vincent Versace telling me about his NIK Software sponsored one hour free webinar this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. PST.  That's a 1:00 p.m. afternoon pick-me-up for us East Coasters. 

Vincent is a legendary digital fine art photographer having been honored as a Computerworld Smithsonian Award Laureate.  Shutterbug Magazine also named his book on B&W photography, "Welcome To Oz", the best of the year [link].  Looks  like a fantastic webcast with lots of great deals on NIK goodies too.  You can register right here. Just go do it, Vinnie's an outstanding photographer ….and a really nice guy:~)

25% Off SpiderPro - Almost Forgot This
Two weeks ago, I did a post [link] on the new SpiderPro Camera Holster - remember the gunfight video - "How To Shoot A Wedding Cowboy Style"?[link] Well, during the day I was on the phone with the company to see if they would offer our DPT readers a special discount on the Spider. 

Well, GREAT NEWS - anyone visiting the SpiderPro website can get a FULL 25% off any product offered. Use  CODE: Ziser25 to obtain your discount. What a deal!  I have to tell you, I love the SpiderPro because it doesn't have a bunch of straps I have to wear. If you plan on shooting really heavy glass, check out the belt too. Thanks to the Spider guys for the great offer!

A Few Websites I Stumbled On Over The Weekend
I found this website completely by accident over the weekend.  A quick tour of the links showed me it was pretty rich with good content. The name - NewPhotoDigest [link]. I linked the documentary video on Edward Weston - really different, and worth the visit. 

Hey gang, while you are visiting websites, check out this list compiled by DPT reader Noel Hannan [link].  He listed some sites you've heard about but a few you haven't.  So check it out and enjoy the surf.  Thanks Noel for the list - and including DPT in the listing.

And Finally, Your Giggle For The Day
I had one of our attendees point me to this hilarious video [link] of Joe McNally confessing his digital sins to Father Bob.  If you haven't seen it, it is a hoot.  Joe McNally, who wrote the huge best selling book on photograph, "The Moment It Clicks" and fellow National Geographic photographer, Bob Krist, perform this skit flawlessly. You will have tears running down your cheeks by the end of it.  A great way to begin the week ;~)
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Hey gang, I've run a little short of time this morning.  I've got a few more Quick Hits coming your way again tomorrow. I've got to head out for my meeting right about now.  Plan to stop by tomorrow for the quick hits and my Technique Tuesday episode entitled, "The Making Of Cabo Smiles" - a photography and Lightroom 3 tutorial.  I posted this photograph as a photo of the day last week [link] and many have asked for an in depth "exposure to finished image" discussion of the print. 

You've got it - see you then.
-David

"Catching The Breeze"

"Catching The Breeze"
©David A. Ziser

First off, let me say that I love this shot.  I love the lighting, I love the spontaneity, I love the breeze blowing the veil, and I love the setting.  It's another image I made during my Digital Master Class last week.  We had just started taking photographs in this little park in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.  It was a bit chilly and windy.  But, the wind brought the magic to the shoot.  When I saw what the wind was doing to the veil I just started shooting away directing the bride to “go with the wind” and just try to keep the veil out of her face. I eventually captured this shot.  Lighting was a bit trickier to accomplish.  We decided to use a very shiny Westcott 36 inch silver reflector and bounce some sunlight back into the bride's face.  Keeping the reflector in the proper position proved a slight challenge in the wind. Nevertheless, we pulled it off for this photograph. We got a perfect loop light on the bride's face, great movement in the pose for a kind of  "fashion wedding image".  Oh, one minor issue when you read the camera specs below. I was in such a hurry to capture this image, I neglected to reduce my ISO for the outside shooting - whoops! Hey, isn't that what Lightroom 3's noise reduction is all about:~) Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 145mm, F5.6 @ 1/4000 second, ISO 1600.  Enjoy!  -David

A Sneak Peek At My New Success Collection - Unbelievable!

Good Morning Everybody,

Boy, am I fired up! For the last several weeks I've been working with several of our industry friends on a project that brings more training, opportunity, and value to every photographer out there! You won't believe it when you see it. Next week we launch my DWUC Success Collection. I'll give you the rest of the details next week, but you can take a peek right here at what we've got cookin'. It’s Way Cool!!!

I’d love to hear your comments…

Oh, by the way, if you pre-ordered the DVD set, we are including all the goodies too :~)

I wanted to get this up first thing this morning.  I'll get the "Keeping The Faith" post up a little later today.

-David

“Keeping the Faith” At A Pakistani Wedding

OK, let me begin by saying that I am not an expert in Pakistani, Muslim, Indian, or Persian weddings. I've only done about 3 total in my career - the last very recently. But, I also want to add that they are a great wedding photography experience! In today's post I'll walk you through some of the highlights of a Pakistani wedding I did a few years ago.  Here we go…

Keeping the Faith At A Pakistani Wedding

The wedding celebration I photographed about three years ago was a three day event. On the Thursday before Saturday's wedding, the bride's family invites the groom's family and all their close friends to come by for a dinner celebration.

Day One: Thursday Evening – Dinner With Family and Friends

At some point prior to this celebration, the bride is involved in the Henna ceremony. This is when  her hands are decorated with very intricate henna designs - very beautiful and quite deteailed. As the photographer, you've got to get lots of shots of these designs.

For this evening's festivities, the bride is dressed in a beautiful silk gown representing her heritage. She and her family are now ready to greet their guests as they arrive. These gowns, by the way, are very beautiful and colorful. Since this is a multiple day event, the bride wears different colors for each of the day's festivities. Once I caught on to the color theme aspect of the wedding, I always tried to wear a colorful tie that would compliment the colors of the day.

Once all the guests arrive, the bride and groom take a seat under a canopy. The guests all come up and adorn them with flowers, rub aromatic spices on their hands, and feed them special treats. Lots of things are going on during this special evening and all of these activities need to be photographed.

After this special ceremony, it's dinner time. the fragrance of the spicy dishes wafted throughout the house. The father of the bride invited us to enjoy dinner with them. Normally I don't but I love spicy food and made the exception on this evening.

Hit the “Read More…” link below for the rest of the story.

The evening continues with everyone enjoying each other's company, especially the company of the bride and groom. Some guests may entertain the couple with a dance or a song, all in good fun. For my experience, it was wonderful to see the close family ties and how all the family members interacted so loving with each other. We take the occasional casual group shots, shoot tons of reportage images, and be at the beckoned call of our clients. Hey, that's how it supposed to be.

Day Two : Friday Night – A Big Party

Friday evening's festivities take place in the ballroom at the mosque. Nothing happens until after the evening prayer service. Remember to take off your shoes if you plan to enter. It's a way of showing respect for this holy place. After the prayer service, the celebration begins anew. At the wedding I photographed, about 200 guests arrived to be part of the fun. It was quite the party.

 

The groom is paraded in with his family and then the bride follows into the ballroom with her family. This is another of one of "not to missed" moments. The bride and groom then make their way to a raised platform and take their seats under another canopy.

The guests make themselves comfortable on the floor and entertain the bride and groom with music, song, and dance. Once again the bride and groom are adorned with flowers and spices, and the guests come up and offer them spices and special sweet treats along with congratulatory hugs and kisses. This time, though, the crowd is much larger than the night before. Be sure to capture the all action.

In a while dinner is served and everyone heads to the dinning area for the main meal. This is a time to get special group photographs of family and friends. After dinner, it's back to the main ballroom where the party continues.

At this point, the bride and groom join in the dancing. I was able to get several shots of the groom and his friends dancing, but once the girls got involved in the party, it was time for us guys to split. I offered to have a female photographer cover the action, but the client declined - so I really don't have any idea of what happened after we left. In talking with the bride the next day, I was told that the party went on into the wee hours of the morning.

Day Three: Saturday – The Wedding

Saturday is the day of the actual ceremony and reception. We got a pretty early start that day since we were scheduled to photograph the bride and groom getting ready, family groups and they sometimes are quite large groups with aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was during this pre-ceremony session, that I made one of my all time favorite wedding photographs.

Another ceremony takes place before the actual ceremony with the groom's family. There are lots of activities going on beforehand and you've got to be alert to everything going on around you so as to not miss anything. We were moving about a "million miles an hour" in these few hours before the ceremony. Time is always on the short side to get everything completed.

OK, we've got all the pre-ceremony shots, now it time for the ceremony. A Muslim ceremony differs a lot from a Christian ceremony in so far, at least in my experience, it can take place in a hotel as mine did.

A few of the closest friends and family join the couple up on the stage for the service. They may give a speech or two during the service. The person who presides over the service is usually someone special to the family - maybe an uncle or really good family friend. Be sure to capture all the action.

These weddings are super family oriented so you want to capture all the family interactions. The colors of the day are also important to capture - and there are lots of brilliant, beautiful color everywhere!

After the service, you only have seconds to get all your shots of the bride and groom, families, special group requests. You have to keep your wits about you, not miss a thing, and come home with all the photographs. It is a blistering fast pace to capture everything. But, hey, that’s what you were hired to do, right?

Now it's party time. there is no throwing of the bouquet and garter, but there is still the cake cutting. Be sure to capture it all. One very interesting tradition is that the bride's girlfriends will "steal" one of the groom's slippers and hold it out to the highest bidder among the men who need to negotiate for it's return - all in good fun.

The festivities continue till around midnight then it's time for the couple to leave. This is a very emotional event for the bride's family. Their daughter is leaving and will be living in another home. Be sure to capture all the emotions of this special time of the day. Everybody makes their goodbyes soon after the couple leave and the celebration pretty much comes to a close.

I hope this gives a little insight into what takes place at a Pakistani/Muslim wedding. The colors, aromas, and especially the show of family love is something to behold. What an experience it is to photograph these events. I hope I've done justice to the events. You can find more information on Pakistani/Muslim weddings right here.

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Hey gang, It was a long post, it's late and I'm calling it a day. Everybody have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day where ever you are. I'll plan to see you next week, all the pixels willin'.

See you then, David

"Cabo Smiles"

 

"Cabo Smiles"
©David A. Ziser

This image was also made while we were in Cabo.  LaDawn asked me to photograph her family while we were there.  I was happy to oblige - I'm even giving her a 30% discount since we're related ;~)  Anyway, about the image. We had a gorgeous location, the ocean, and clear, sunny weather. The only flash I had with me was my Canon 580 EXII and planned to fire it remotely with my Quantum Freewire radios.  But it was still going to be tough to use this single 50 watt second strobe in this really bright lighting. It just wasn't powerful enough to put a "direction of light" on the scene.  I decided to go to Plan B and not use the strobe at all.  There was a large rock outcropping where we were going to take the photographs.  I decided to forgo trying to get my coveted "direction of light" on the scene and just work with the ambient light in this shaded area of the beach.  I figured that by placing my three subjects in the shadow of this large rock and getting them exposed correctly, albeit without a "direction of light" on them, the sun lit ocean background would render in a beautiful pastel key of blue, which it did. I also needed to use a really shallow depth of field too to really throw the background out of focus.  I shot wide open with my new Canon 100mm F2.8 IS Macro lens - wow, what an optic - one of the sharpest in the Canon lens arsenal. The clothing selection was perfect for this shot yielding a wonderful pastel key soft light portrait of LaDawn's three children. I love how the shot turned out.  So did LaDawn. Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with Canon 100mm F 2.8 IS Macro lens, F 2.8 @ 1/500 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Business Day Thursday: Best Perceived Value - Discounts or Gift Cards?

Good Morning Everybody,

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood today - I sure hope this weather lasts through the weekend.  It is just so cool to work on the blog while sitting on the back deck enjoying a cup a morning joe. 

And speaking of iPads, everyone is looking for the best and coolest apps.  I don't want to steal Terry White's thunder over on his Tech Blog [link] - but I'm planning on doing a post of my favorite apps that I've found so far, and I've found some very cool ones.  Look for it next Wednesday.  It should be fun.

Hey gang, I got thinking about this week's blog topic last week and am really fired up about it so let's get right to it.

Best Perceived Value - Discounts or Gift Cards?

Look anywhere - all of us are constantly bombarded with offers for this and discounts on that.  We see the offers in the mail, on TV, in magazines and newspapers, all over the internet - these offers are everywhere, right?  How do we respond to these offers, what kind of "call to action" works best?  Which offers give us the best reason to buy a certain product?

Here are my thoughts on the topic. Okay, listen closely now. I want you to consider two discount scenarios. There is a product you would love to purchase - it's offered by two reputable companies and it costs $250.  Here is my question.  One company runs an ad and offers a 20% discount on that item - great a $50 savings.  Another company sends you a $50 gift card in the mail good for any purchase at their store totaling $250 or more.  Which off has the greatest perceived value.

Almost universally, the customer will answer that the $50 gift card is the best, most effective way to make the offer. Why? Because a gift card "feels" like CASH IN YOUR HANDS! Well, it really is, isn't it?  How did you answer the question?  It seems automatic to prefer the gift card, doesn't it? It's still the same $50 savings in both offers but the gift card is a great "call to action" because, as I said - it "feels' like cash.

I think something else is happening here too.  If you offer a discount, allowance, etc. at say 20%, the customer has to make a mental calculation as to how much the 20% off is.  The gift card takes the math out of the decision getting the customer quickly one step closer to a buying decision without having to do the math.

Having to do the easy mental math is what makes the discount something that could easily postpone the buying decision, even until the offer may be forgotten about in just a few days.  The gift card though, is like cash burning a hole in your pocket where you want to spend it - heck, it's $50! 

Do you see what I'm saying here?  As small business owners, it is the easiest and most effective way for us to build sales. Frank Wilson, who is the "King of Gift Cards", inspired my other gift card post right here. He has been raving about their effectiveness since I first met him years ago. Be sure to read the Comments Section too for lots more gift card ideas. Frank has them with him all the time and will spontaneously give them to any type of prospective client.

Here's the deal.  You can get your own gift cards custom made lots of places online. 4ColorPrint.com [link] offers 2 sides, 4-color gift cards for $119 for 250 cards - like $.50/card - cheap. My1Stop.com [link] is a bit pricier at $190 for 250 cards. 

If this idea turns you on, then I really recommend my buddies over at Marathon Press [link] who offer gift cards in quantities as small as 50 cards.  For $132, you can get 250 cards - on par with the best prices on the net.  But, here is what makes Marathon different when it comes to gift cards.  They also offer a special gift card fold-over note card and imprinted envelope to really "class up" your gift card presentation to your client. Yep, it's a bit pricier, but good impressions sometimes are.

If it was me, I would be carrying gift cards with me to every wedding, on every family portrait shoot,  I would be generously passing them out wherever I might meet a prospective client.  Think about it, your new gift cards may be your new business card;~)

I love the idea, let me know what you think in the Comments section below.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today - back to my edit for Kelby Training.  I'm still about a day away, but I should have them over to them by the weekend.  I'll follow up with them next week and give you an update on when the next lesson will go "live."

Have a good one today, and I'll see you tomorrow for another episode of "Keeping the Faith" - At A Muslim Wedding.

Adios, David

"Cabo Geometrics"

"Cabo Geometrics"
©David A. Ziser

OK, I'm mixing it up a bit today with one of the images I took in Cabo, Mexico a few weeks ago. This image was made during an afternoon walk of the local neighborhood.  The sun was bright as it was shining upon this very bright wall along the walkway. It was an interesting wall because of its angles, lines, and 3D geometrics.  With the camera compressing the 3 dimension reality into a 2 dimension image the angles and lines really looked cool.  I love how the light glows from behind each of the diagonal elements of the shot - this was the biggest "turn on" for me in this photograph. Camera specs; Canon 7D fitted with 18-200mm IS lens at 70mm, F8.0 @ 1/3200 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy!  -David

Perfectly Perfect Exposure - It's All In the Hands; and Food For Your Brain

Good Morning Everybody,

After our rainy weekend, the last few days have been picture perfect. I'm working through my edits for my latest Kelby Training video due out shortly, helped my daughter polish here resume' to get off to prospective summer employers in NYC. Liz is attending PACE University and loves living in New York City. LaDawn’s hand continues to heal with her ability to additional functionality and use. I contacted some of my vendor buddies about a little project that I keep hinting about and launching next week. So things are good.

Great Food For Your Brain

Hey, before we get to today's post I want to point you towards some great learning experiences coming your way.  Normally I'd post these on Quick Hit Monday, but the information kept coming fast and furious and some are opportunities have limited attendance. So check them out and see if there might be a fit for you.  Here we go...

Left Brain Right Brain Tour: [link]

.... This revolutionary and ground-breaking new seminar, taught by two of the world’s most sought-after and beloved instructors, Ken Sklute and Mitche Graf, will show you how to “fuse” your art and business minds together to make a one dynamite package!....

Mitch and Ken are good friends of mine whom I've known for years.  Definitely, check out their program right here.  And, for your $49 bucks you get $500 worth of goodies for attending. They are about 1/2 way through their tour so catch them when they get to a city near you.  They're heading to the west coast next week. I wish they were coming to Cincy ;~(

Marathon Press Design And Marketing Seminar: [link]

This program is coming up June 14th and 15th. LaDawn and I attended this program a few years ago over at the home office of Marathon Press.  It was wonderful - just jammed packed full of great ideas.  This seminar is limited to ONLY 12 studios!  Here is the link to all the info.  Jump on this one quick if you are interested.

That's the easy update around here so let's get on with today's post. I think you are going to like the "hand tricks” we're pulling off today.  Here we go...

Perfectly Perfect Exposure - It's All In The Hands

I've spent a lot of time discussing exposure in my seminars, workshops, and my new book. Too many people rely just on the camera's auto exposure system and let it to do all the work. When shooting weddings you've got to be a bit more careful in nailing the exposure, especially the off-camera flash photographs.

Remember, I always shoot ALL my flash exposures with the camera set to manual so I've got to nail the exposure. If you blow it, you just may over-expose all the detail away from the beautiful gown - not a good thing. A similar situation can occur when photographing the groom and groomsmen. Those guys are always wearing those dark tuxes. If you're not careful, you can easily "blow out" the shirts too.

The easy way to be sure your exposure is "dead on" is by using my "blinky" method of exposure. I simply include a "diffuse white", like the bride's gown in the test shot, make my exposure, check for "blinkies" in the dress, and adjust the exposure downward if I see any.

OK, what are these darn "blinkies" I'm talking about? Simple - it's the blinking area of your camera's LCD screen that indicates "overexpose"  when you enable highlight alert on your camera. If you see "blinkies" on the bride's gown or any diffuse white area in the scene, your histogram graph is banging up against the right hand side axis - or said differently, you are overexposing the whites in the scene.

Hit the “Read More…” link below for the rest of the article.

After I get the "blinkies" under control I check the histogram again.  I want those diffuse highlights to land about 1/3 of the way into the fifth section as shown on my Canon camera.  Nikon shooters have four section histograms so on a Nikon, I would suggest you let the diffuse white hit about 1/2 way into that fourth section.

Why do I do this?  Simple – I’m making an Ansel Adams Zone System work into determining my correct exposure. Ansel always exposed for Zone 9 so that he preserved all the detail in his white tonalities.  It turns out that if you have the diffuse whites as shown on your histogram hit about 1/3 of the way into that fifth section, you are exposing your whites just the way Ansel did, into Zone 9 - pretty cool.

So if you take my advice, you can rest assured that your exposures will be perfect for every shot. So what do you do when you don't have a "diffuse white" in the scene? Robert Ash, one of my Digital Master Class attendees last week, came up with a really handy - no pun intended - solution to the matter.  I'll let him tell you in his own words below in his article, "The Ultimate Portable Light Meter."

The Ultimate Portable Light Meter

It can be tricky to monitor light levels without a meter. If you're shooting a wedding that happens to include neutral tones like white clothing (a wedding dress, etc.) then metering on diffuse whites until highlight warnings disappear like David Ziser does is very effective. But what if there are no diffuse whites in the scene - or what if there are no other neutral colors at all in the scene you're photographing? Or what if no one in the wedding or portrait is wearing white?

One easy answer is literally in the palm of your hand. It turns out that the human palm is the world's most convenient - and most portable - light meter. Also, it turns out the human palm is not only accurate but consistent because, regardless of the overall color of any of our skin, the palms of everyone's hands are about the same brightness or reflectivity.

To use your palm to measure exposure properly:

1. Put the palm of your hand in the same light that's falling on the subject (if your palms are sweating you can wipe them on your clothes first to prevent specular highlights from influencing the reading).

2. Zoom in on the palm of your hand until your palm completely fills the frame (make sure no shadow from your lens or lens shade is visible in the frame).

3. Focus on infinity (this will prevent the lines of your hand from influencing the meter reading).

4. Lock in your meter reading or memorize the exposure reading for your palm.

5. Then open up one stop. Your exposure will now be correct.

The reason this works is because, for any scene or color they are metering, camera meters always try to expose that scene so it has the same brightness as a middle gray. A middle gray is a gray whose brightness value is halfway between black and white. An evenly-lit human palm which fills the frame is one stop brighter than a middle gray (for those familiar with the Zone System, the human palm is at Zone 6 and middle gray is at Zone 5). Because the meter will set the exposure so your palm will have a middle gray brightness - one stop lower than the palm's actual brightness - opening up one stop from that reading gives the correct brightness and therefore the correct exposure.

Once you have one object at the correct exposure, all the other objects under the same lighting will also be exposed correctly, just as if you were metering off a neutral - like a white wedding dress.

Hey Robert, pretty fancy hand trick and great tip!  Thanks a bunch.  Hey gang, be sure to check out Robert's website right here.  He also has some beautiful landscape photography right here - definitely take a peek.  And lastly, he just posted some of his images from my Master Class - you can check them out right here  you will clearly see what a great time we had last week.

What struck me about the tip was the fact that any hand will work regardless of which part of the world you hail from.  I guess I always knew that, but tying it to an exposure technique - very clever.

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  Plan to stop back tomorrow for another money making episode of Business Day Thursday.

See ya' then,  -David

"In the Shadows Of Your Smile"

"In the Shadows Of Your Smile"
©David A. Ziser

OK, maybe the title is a bit weak today, but she is standing in the shadows, isn't she ;~). Anyway, this is another image that I captured during last week's Master Class. It's a simple portrait in the beautiful surrounds of Ault Park.  I wanted to include one of the park's main features, the pavilion in the distance. I feel it adds a sense of grandeur to the setting. It's the technique I used here that makes this shot so cool. I used just the available light.  But, you ask, how did I get the beautiful light on her face? Ahhh, I say, "It was just a little photon ricochet."  Yep, I simply bounced the sunlight off a silver reflector camera right. Because of the high efficiency of the reflector's surface, it returned about 90% of the sunlight reflected into it.  That's why the background is so well balanced with the highlights on the bride. I filled the shadows with my on-camera flash on high speed sync in order to accommodate the fast shutter speed. I'm planning a Technique Tuesday on the process next week.  Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 10-22mm at 11mm, F 4.5 @ 1/800 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy! David

Technique Tuesday: Little Worlds Of Wonder

Good Morning Everybody,

Good news, we've finally got the Digital WakeUp Call DVDs in and are assembling the pieces this week. All pre-orders should be shipped by the end of the week. Those of you that ordered so far are going to be thrilled when you open your package - more later this week.

Now on to today's Technique Tuesday....

Little Worlds Of Wonder

You know, this week's Technique Tuesday was the Technique Tuesday that almost never was.  I had seen some images Nicholas Viltrakis had posted to his blog a few weeks ago [link] and loved them - they were just so different.  I asked him to do a guest post about the technique he used to get his result and he happily obliged.

Well, between several mis-queues about fill formats to use - we finally got on the same page and Nicholas set off to create the video.  That was fine but in putting the tutorial together, I found that I had recorded the intro and exit at 1920x1080 on my Canon 7D.  As I was using Camtasia, my favorite tool for creating these types of videos, my computer did a BIG hiccup. The error was memory related and wouldn't allow me to make the final tutorial.  I then had to resize all the files to allow Camtasia to render the final video. Unfortunately, just a slight annoyance but gobs and gobs of time for this week’s tutorial.  Bu sure to tell Nicholas how much you enjoyed it.

After an afternoon of frustration, I finally got the bugs worked out so now I give you Nicholas' tutorial.

As I said, the images I saw on Nicholas' blog a few weeks ago really caught my eye.  These were panoramas but just not like the panoramas you've seen in the past. These are called stereographic panoramas, and boy do they look different.  I liken them to the flying forest world in the movie Avatar - way cool!

I asked Nicholas if he could show us how he created his unusual images and he gladly obliged. Hit the PLAY button below and enjoy the show.

Check out lots more stereographic panoramas right here.  They sure are fun to explore!

Related links:

Stereographic Images: [link]

DigitalProTalk Flickr Group: [link]

Panorama Software:

PTGUI: [link]

Hugen: [link]

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Hey gang, that's it for me today.  I'm firing up the new Canon iPF 8100 printer we installed a few weeks ago.  I want to run a few canvas tests through the printer.  I’ll share my insights and results later.

Have a great one everybody. I'll see ya' tomorrow for a very unusual PhotoFAV Wednesday.

Adios, -David

"A Walk In The Park"

"A Walk In The Park"
©David A. Ziser

Here is an image I made last week during my Master Class.  The day was beautiful with warm breezes and rich blue skies. I captured this shot from a very low vantage point to allow the clouds and tree line to lead the viewer's eye directly to my bride.  Notice she is positioned in the bottom right quadrant, the fourth quadrant, of the frame. Light is coming from camera left from a Quantum Trio on full power pretty close to the subject but just out of camera view.  The shadows were going a bit dark so I filled them with my on camera flash to reduce their harshness.  Quick, easy and simple I think it turned out to be a great shot.  Camera specs: Canon 7D fitted with 10-22mm lens at 22mm, F16 @ 1/250 second, ISO 200.  Enjoy! -David

Quick Hit iPad Centric Monday: My First iPad Disappointment; Blogging From Your iPad; 115 Wedding Tips; Pinhole Cameras: and More

Good Morning Everybody,

Hope everyone had a great weekend and your favorite horse won the Kentucky Derby - yep, that's real big in this part of the country. I thought the best story was about Glen Fullerton, selected from a group of 67,000 entries to place a $100,000 bet at the Derby. Glen bet on the winner Super Saver, and won $900,000 - not a bad day at the races.  Here is all the Derby news right here.

It was pretty rainy in Kentucky over the weekend, but it was one of those really nice rains, steady, cool, and refreshing.  Anyway, the forecast is for beautiful blue skies for the rest of the week.

I had a really cool experience happen to me over the weekend. I was shooting a First Communion at Mother Of God Church this weekend - I always like to see the smiling faces of the kids and the proud expressions from the moms and dads.  Anyway, as I was hanging around, I had a couple approach me, introduce themselves, and proceed to tell me I had photographed their wedding, get this, 31 YEARS AGO. Now that's going back a few!

I, believe it or not, remembered shooting the wedding - I was renting my apartment from the bride's aunt at the time.  It was way back in the early days of Focus Photography - the original name of my studio.  It was a joy to see the couple and we shared a nice visit.

Then I went to the church's social hall for a doughnut and cup of coffee.  I ran into another one of my brides that I had photographed 26 years ago! What a morning this was shaping into. This bride told me how she kept her wedding album in a special place in their bedroom and told me how she paged through it nearly every day - kind of a nice story.  I'm thinking maybe it's my photography that's kept these two couples together all these years;~)

With my Master Class behind us, it's slowing down around the studio for the next few weeks. That's like a really good thing. It will give me a little time to catch my breath and work on a few projects that are not deadline based all the time.

The main item I'm working on this week is images for my latest Kelby Training video.   I promised the images to them this week, so look for my latest release, "Shooting A Real Wedding", to be coming down the instructional pike very shortly.

Hey, time to get on with our iPad centric Quick Hit Monday.  Here we go.

My First iPad Disappointment

I have to say, just like they say in the McDonald's commercial, "I'm loving' it.” That's about 98% true for me and my new iPad so far. I do have a few nits to pic. The first is the  placement of the apostrophe key - it's on the numerical side of the keyboard - not a big deal, but still a bit inconvenient.

The BIG disappointment is with the iPad VGA adapter. You would think that you just plug it in, attach a projector, and project away. NOT - it seems the iPad projects only video ready apps and then not all of them. It DOES NOT show what's on the iPad screen at all! In fact, it freezes the iPad screen when it goes to video view.  It will project YouTube videos without a problem, but who cares?

It will project my Keynote presentations, but blanks the iPad when projecting the presentation. What's that about? That means I have to constantly look at the screen to follow my own presentation - really inconvenient.  That makes it useful only in an emergency situation and of little value in real world audience presentations.

And now the BIGGY - it won't project the movies I play on Netflix.  I love having Netflix on my iPad - to bad I can't do a BIG SCREEN presentation of the movies for the neighborhood kids :-(  Years ago I used to have a neighborhood "Drive In Movie Night". It was quite a "hoot" for the entire neighborhood. More information over here at PC Magazine.  I'm kind of in agreement with many of the commenter's on the post.

BUT, even with those minor disappointments, I'm still loving' my iPad.

Getting Pictures On Your iPad

Terry White, at his Tech Blog right here has a good video tutorial showing how to use the iPad's camera adapter.  The most interesting part of the video is how he shows how to hook up the iPad's USB connector to a Delkin flash card reader so that you can easily move images from ANY type of camera card, not just the SDHD variety that the iPad features.

Sure, you can also import your images through iTunes but remember, to get different albums to show up on your iPad, you need to put the separate albums in separate folders within your My Pictures folders on a PC. The iPad won't read nested folders individually. Subfolders will all be combined into one iPad album. Thought you would like to know.

Blogging From Your iPad

OK, I'm writing this post this morning out on our back deck on my iPad just listening to the birds sing their morning songs and watching the squirrels romp in the backyard.  OK, that might be to "Bambi" like sounding for you, but all joking aside, it is a pretty nice experience.  Now let's say I was in Timbuktu and needed to get my post up for the day, how could I pull it off? The easy answer is with this cool little app called BlogPress [link].

I found it over at AppVee.com during my weekend cruise.  I'll tell you, it is really easy to use, has spell check (and, boy do I need spell checking), will let you add more than one image to your post. I found a free one called BlogWriter Lite, but BlogPress, even at $2.99, looks pretty good to get the job done. 

One minor issue, it won't let me add HTML links to the posts.  I've dropped them an email - and just received a response.  He tells me that feature will be in the next update.  Things keep getting easier and easier.

More Wedding Tips Than You Could Ever Want In A Blog Post

It was a nice over the slow weekend to visit some of my favorite blogs and see what they were up to. EpicEdits has a great post featuring lots - actually 115 - good wedding tips. It's a good read - check it out right here.

More On Pinhole Cameras

Since I was a kid, I've been a pinhole camera aficionado. DYIPhotography has a great post on the subject right here - 23 pinhole camera designs that you too can make in your own backyard ;~)

Got Lots Of Time On Your Hands, Then Read More

Hey gang, here is a pretty cool link to all things photographic at ePhotozine.com.  I remember visiting this site months and months ago, but it has really come into it's own.  Lots of good articles on all things photography. Here is the link - definitely worth the browse.

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Hey gang, That's it for me today. I've got to get started on my Kelby Training edit.  Also, look for a recap of last week's Master Class later this week. Oh, by the way, my Ace #1 Assistant, Nicholas Viltrakis, did a brief recap right here - Thanks Nicholas.

OK gang, I'm hitting the road.  I'll see everyone tomorrow for another mind bending episode of Technique Tuesday.

See ya' then, -David